Philosophy and Operating Principles

St. Thomas Aquinas Tutorial (“STAT”) will endeavor to facilitate joy in learning in every way possible as we support the moral, mental, physical, and spiritual formation begun and continued at home. As the Catholic Church teaches, “parents are the principal and first educators of their children,” with the solemn duty to “create a family atmosphere inspired by love and devotion to God and their fellow men.” Having first been called to the vocation of family life, we see Catholic home schooling as a particular means of fulfilling that vocation. We hope for our children to experience a loving and active Catholic community at STAT where they can “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” We take as our guiding consideration the following words of the late Father John Hardon:

It is not only that you are to teach your children as the academic world understands teaching, because Catholic education is no mere teaching of academic subjects. Teaching of the Catholic Faith is communicating Divine Grace from mind to mind, from believing mind to believing mind, from believing will to believing will. You parents are no mere teachers when you teach the Catholic Faith. You are the conduits of Divine Grace; no less, indeed more, than you were conduits of human life to the children whom you conceived and gave birth to.

Because we desire both academic excellence for our children and that balanced, happy family atmosphere described above, we have banded together to form a tutorial which will assist families in motivating and challenging their elementary- and middle-school-aged children. By providing outstanding tutors and a challenging, solidly Catholic curriculum, we hope to lighten the load of home schooling parents, particularly mothers, who often struggle to attain high academic standards with their children while simultaneously caring for babies and toddlers, and elderly parents. Within the subject areas of religion, math, language arts, history, science, Latin, and reading/literature, home schooling families will obtain quality instruction in small group classes.

Because STAT’s goal is to assist parents in their home schooling vocation, parents must commit to being involved in the child’s home schooling. The tutor will establish the syllabus and assignments, following the Mother of Divine Grace School curriculum, but the parent is still the primary teacher, especially on the school days when STAT does not meet. STAT is a five-day program. There will be course assignments to be completed on “home days” and the parents must be available to guide, assist, monitor, and motivate their children. The tutor will give a suggested grade based on classroom participation and student work; however, the parent assigns the final grade.

Parents are responsible for fulfilling state home schooling legal requirements. STAT does NOT currently operate as an umbrella organization for the purpose of meeting state oversight criteria.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1653 (quoting Gravissimum educationist).

Kimberly Hahn and Mary Hasson, Catholic Education: Homeward Bound: A Useful Guide to Catholic Home Schooling. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1996, p. 33 (quoting Declaration of Christian Education).

Psalm 34:8

Id. 45-46.